Monday, April 5, 2010

What a great 2 days of learning in Nashville TN last week! There were large groups of teachers learning how to use Twitter and social networking for professional development to small groups of 2 or 3 people in impromptu learning sessions. There was talk about the closing of Etherpad and the use of alternatives like Typewith.me and Primary Pad. There was great discussion about meeting kids where they are and using music and the arts for assessment in the classroom.

But best of all was the connections. Twitter is a vast resource with lots of people who drop in and out. I have made tons of Twitter connections with all sorts of different people. But nothing beats meeting people in real life. And the really cool thing is I felt like I already knew these people on a person level.

It was so great meeting John, Deron and Shannon from Van Meter. They are really making a difference in the lives of their students and setting the standard for what education should begin to look like.

Then there was Philip, Dr. Tatum, Adam, Ric, and Clif. All great guys and great leaders in education. It was awesome being able to share and learn from them.

Nancy and Melissa worked so hard over the two days. Melissa presented several sessions passing along some great information on how she uses technology in the classroom and Nancy moderated a interesting panel on social media in education. They both were a valuable asset to the conference as a whole.

Then there was Jason, the organizer. After all the talk last week of passion in education it was truly evident with Jason. His dedication, hard work and countless hours spent putting things together really showed and provided a model for other educators to follow as they begin planning their own TeachMeets across the country.

I had the honor of giving the closing keynote. My talk centered around the past, present and future of education. Below is the presentation slides I used and the video archive of the keynote.

I would love to have your feedback if you watched it live or via the archive here.

Oh, and if you hear about a TeachMeet unconference in your area do yourself a favor and make plans to attend. I promise, it's worth it!

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